Polishing head and polishing pad assembly



June 1964 w. c. COOKE ETAL 3,

POLISHING HEAD AND POLISHING PAD ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 50, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet l 52 fi m l4 F I g. 2 Y INVENTORS.

William L. Goa/re Pierre 5. Porfe i i Y i WW1 *7 THE/R'ATTORNE r3 June 16, 1964 w. c. COOKE ETAL 3,137,022

POLISHING HEAD AND POLISHING PAD ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 50, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 M Fig.6

INVENTORS.

William 6. Cooke BY P/e/re .5. Par/e THE IR A TTOR/VE Y5 J 1 1964 w. c. COOKE ETAL FCLISHING HEAD AND POLISHING PAD ASSEMBLY 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Aug. 50, 1962 THE/R ATTORNEYS I June 16, 1964 w. c. COOKE ETAL 3,137,022

POLISHING HEAD AND POLISHING PAD ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 30, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 346 346 350 346 ,2 THEIR ATTORNEYS June 16, 1964 w. c. COOKE ETAL 3,137,022

POLISHING HEAD AND POLISHING PAD ASSEMBLY Filed Aug. 50, 1962 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 336 354 320 L 34o Q i: 0

368 Fig. /4 334 3 364 314 g o 3) 3'2 0; g 320 3|2 j INVENTORS.

William C.Cooke BY Pierre 8. Porfe [I {26; M M

THEIR ATTORNEYS 3,137,022 PoLisrnNG HEAD AND rouse ran ASSEMBLY William C. Cooke and Pierre S. Porte, Kingsport, Tenn,

assignors to American-Saint Gohain Corporation, Kingsport, Tenn, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 30, 1%2, Ser. No. 220,358 6 Claims. (Cl. 15-23% rality of rotating polishing heads with felt pads'of cornpacted hair secured thereto are employed to provide the rubbing action required for the rouge to form a smooth,

7 highly polished surface. The polishing heads comprise a rotating drive shaft, a steel pan or plate secured to the end of the drive shaft and weights supported by and which exert a downward force on the pan. The felt pad secured to the underside of the pan is conventionally formed of compacted hair and is subject to Wear as it applies the necessary rubbing action to the surface of the glass. In the past, the pads'of compacted hair were secured directly to the underside of the steel pan by means of a carbonaceous binder such as tar, pitch or the like. To replace aworn pad itwas necessary to remove the steel pan from the drive shaft and to then separate the felt pad from the underside of the steel pan. The carbonaceous binder remaining on the underside of the steel pan was then removed and a new felt pad was secured to the underside of the steel pan by means of fresh carbonaceous binder. The steel pan was then resecured to the drive shaft and the weights repositioned. This method of replacing a felt pad required substantial time and labor.

We have provided an improved means for securing the felt pad to the underside of the pan so that it' is no longer necessary to disassemblethe pan from the drive shaft when replacement of the felt pad is required. In fact, with our improved apparatus it is now possible to speedily replace a felt pad in a minimum amount of time with minimum labor. Further, our improved apparatus pro- 3,13'Lh22 Patented June 16, 1964 justed to remove the tension from the straps and the straps and felt pad are easily removed. The pad is then replaced by another felt pad of similar construction; 'In this manner a minimum amount of time is required to re place the felt pad and the time consuming procedure required to disassemble the driving head and remove the worn pad from the underside of the steel pan and to secure a new pad to the underside of the pan by means of tar, pitch, or the like, is eliminated.

This invention accomplishes the foregoing and other functions in a novel way as will now be explained. Fur: ther features, objects and advantages will either be specifically pointed out or become apparent when, for a better understanding of the invention, reference is made to the following written description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings which form apart hereof, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is a top plan view of a driving head and pad assembly illustrating the resilient support means extending radially from a portion of the driving head; i

FIGURE 2 is a viewin section taken along the line 2 -2 of FIGURE 1, illustrating in detail the driving head with the felt pad secured thereto;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged view in elevation illustrating the manner in which the straps are secured to the resilient supporting member;

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged detail view of themanner V in which the straps are secured'to the pad between the pad of compacted hair and the canvas backing;

FIGURES is a plan view of the underside 'of the canvas backing with the pad of compacted hair removed and illustrating a three strap arrangement;

FIGURE 6 is a view similar to FIGURE 5 illustrating a four strap arrangement; a

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary plan view similar to FIG-. URE 1 illustrating another embodiment of the felt pad securing apparatus;

FIGURE 8 is a vertical section taken on the line 8-'8 of FIGURE 7; and t FIGURE 9 is an enlarged view in elevation of the embodiment of FIGURES 7 and 8 and illustratingthe. man: ner in which the straps are secured to the resilient supporting members.

vides a positive tightening force. which maintains the felt pad in operative relation with the pan. 7 Briefly,- one embodiment of our invention includes a pad securing means associated with the driving head.

The pad securingmeans includes a plurality of resilient support means extending radially outwardly from the drive shaft. The feltpad has a canvas backing and a pad of compacted hair secured thereto by means of a suitable adhesive or'by-vulcanizing the hair pad to a sur faceof thecanvas backing. A plurality of straps extend radially outwardly from the felt pad and are secured between the pad of compacted hair and the underside of the canvas backing. The canvasbacking with the pad of compacted hair secured thereto is positioned against the underside of the steel pan while the driving head remains assembled. The straps are connected to suitable adjusting members and the adjusting. members are in turn carried by the resilient support members extending radially from the drive shaft. The adjustable members are adjusted to apply a predetermined tension on the straps and thereby detachably secure the felt pad to the driving head. The resilient members are deflected under this tension at predetermined amount to indicate that proper tension has been applied to the straps. To remove the felt pad from the driving head, the adjusting means is ad- FIGURES 10 through 16 illustrate a further embodi ment of the invention. In this embodiment:

FIGURE 10 is a vertical section taken on the lin 1010 of FIGURE 11; 1

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary plan view taken on the line ,11 1i of FIGUREIO; l

FIGURE 12 is a section through the adjusting means taken on the line 12-12 of FIGURE 10;

FIGURE 13 is a vertical section, through the polishing" pad, taken on the line 13-43 of FIGURE 14;

FIGURE 14 is a bottom plan view of the polishing pad taken on the line 14--14 of FIGURE 13;

FIGURE 15 is an enlarged section taken on the line- 1515 of FIGURE 14; and

FIGURE 16 is a fragmentary so as to lessen the tension-on the supporting straps so that the polishing Referring to the drawings and particularly to FIG- URES 1 through 4, there is illustrated a driving head gen-. erally designated by the numeral 10 which includesa drive shaft 12 that is secured to a conventional drive means (not shown). 12 is a circular pan or plate 16. The pan 16 includes an annular member 18 which is secured to thedrive shaft 12 by means of suitable securing means such as bolts 20.

In this manner the pan 16 rotates with the drive shaft 12.

vertical section similar to FIGURE 10 but showing the adjusting screw, adjusted pad can be removed from the polishing.

Secured to the end'14 of drive shaft 3 A plurality of annular weights 22 are positioned around the drive shaft 12 and are secured to pan 16 by means of bolts 24. The weights are secured to each other by means of one end of weight securing bolts 26. The other end of weight securing bolts 26 is threaded and has a nut 28 threaded thereon to form a backing member for an annular support ring 30. The ring 30 has a plurality of apertures 32 through which the weight securing bolts 26 extend in a manner such that the underside of support ring 30 is carried by the nuts 28. Other nuts 34 fixedly secure the annular support ring 30 to weight securing bolts 26 so that the support ring 30 is maintained in fixed spaced relation above the pan 16. In FIGURE 1 the support ring 30 is illustrated as being fabricated of two halves bolted together in a conventional manner. It should be understood, however, that the support ring 30 could be of unitary construction and positioned around drive shaft 12 in a conventional manner. Extending radially from the support ring 30 are a plurality of resilient support members 36. The resilient support members 36 are suitably secured to the support ring 30 as by bolts 38. Each of the resilient support members 36 has a downturned. semicircular recessed portion 48 and a radial slot 42. r

The felt pad generally designated by the numeral 44 has a circular canvas backing 46 with a circular pad 48 of compacted hair secured thereto. The pad 48 of compacted hair is vulcanized, or otherwise suitably secured, to the underside of the canvas backing 46. There is provided in the compacted hair pad 48 a plurality of grooves 50. Extending between the underside of the canvas backing 46 and the pad 48, in the grooves 50, are canvas straps 52. The straps 52 extend inwardly from about one-fourth to one-third the diameter of the pad 44. The straps 52 are suitably secured between the canvas backing 46 and the pad 48 of compacted hair. In FIGURE the relative positions of the end portions 54 of straps 52 is illustrated where three straps are employed. In FIG- URE 6 there is illustrated an arrangement where a pair of straps 52 extend completely across the pad. The radially extending strap end portions 56 each has a looped portion 58.

Adjusting members generally designated by the numeral 60 are arranged to connect the straps 52 to the resilient supporting members 36. The adjusting member 60 has a stirrup 62 with a pair of apertures 64 and 66 extending through the legs 68 and 70. A pin 72 is arranged to extend through the apertures 64 and 66 and through the loop 58 of the strap 52. The pin 72 has an enlarged head 74 at one end and a bore 76 at the other end in which a cotter pin 78 is positioned to maintain the pin 72 connected to the stirrup 62. The stirrup 62 has a threaded boss 80 secured intermediate the legs 68 and 70 which is arranged to receive one end portion of threaded adjusting bolt 82. The other end portion of bolt 82 extends through a bore 84 in a transverse member 86 which has an external configuration that mates with the recessed portion 40 in the resilient support member 36. An adjusting nut 88 is threaded on the upper end portion of bolt 82 to thereby detachably secure the adjusting member 60 to the resilient support member 36. The nuts 88 are tightened on bolts 82 to exert a tension on straps 52 until the resilient members 36 are deflected downwardly a predetermined amount. In this manner the pad 44 is maintained in operative position against the pan 16 of driving head and the straps 52 are' maintained under a predetermined tension.

To remove the pad 44 from the driving head 10, the nuts 88 are loosened on bolts 82 and adjusting member 60 is removed from the slotted portion 42 in resilient support member 36. The pad is removed from adjustable member 60 by withdrawing pin 72 from the stirrup 62 to release the looped end portion 58 of strap 52 from the adjusting member 60. To place a new felt pad 44 in operative relation on the underside of pan 16, the pins 72 with the loops 58 of straps 52 thereon are replaced in the apertures in adjusting member 68 and the bolts 82 are again positioned in slotted portions 42 of resilient members 36. Bolts 88 are then tightened to provide the desired tension. It will be apparent from the above description of the apparatus the manner in which a felt pad 44 can be removed and replaced without removing the pan 16 from the drive shaft 12.

Another embodiment of our invention is illustrated in FIGURES 7 through 9 and similar numerals increased by one hundred will be applied to similar structure.

The pan 116 has weights 122 secured thereto by bolts 124. The weights have recesses 190 in which there is positioned a U-shaped supporting member 192. There is one recess 190 and one U-shaped supporting member 192 for each strap 152 extending from the felt pad 144. The supporting member 192 is secured at its lower end to the pan 116 by means of a bolt and nut 194 and has a horizontal plate 196 welded thereto adjacent its upper end by means of welds 198. The radially extending resilient support members 136 are secured to the horizontal plates 196 by bolts 200. The resilient members 136 have recesses 140 to receive transverse members 186 and slots 142 to receive adjusting bolts 182. The stirrup 162 has a bore 202 extending vertically therethrough and adjusting bolt 182 is secured to stirrup 162 by means 'of a nut 204. With this arrangement, to exert tension on a strap 152, the nut 204 is tightened on bolt 182 to deflect re silient member 136 as previously described.

The felt pad 144 may be removed and replaced in the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 7 through 9 in a manner similar to that previously described in respect to the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES '1 through 6.

Referring now more particularly to the embodiment illustrated in FIGURES 10-16, there is shown a drive shaft 302 to which a pan or plate 384 is connected in non-rotatable relationship by means of bolt 306 and other connecting means similar to those previously described in connection with the other embodiments. Weights 308 also are provided for exerting downward pressure on the glass plate being polished.

The polishing pad, illustrated generally by reference numeral 310, comprises a pad 312 of felted material, as for example compacted hair, secured to a cloth backing 314, such as canvas, by means of an adhesive cement 316. The polishing pad 310 has a central recess 318 extending through the pad 312 and the backing 314. The pad 312 is provided'with six equally spaced, radially extending grooves 320 which provide flexibility to it. The polishing pad 310 is provided with three radially extending, equally spaced supporting straps 322. These straps preferably are made of steel, but may be made of other metal. Each of the straps 322 lies in a groove 324 formed in the felt pad 312, the straps lying between the underside 326 of the cloth backing 314 and the upper surface of the felt pad 312. The inner end of each strap 322 is looped around one leg of a triangular shaped anchor 328 which is located in the central recess 318, and each strap is clinched by a clincher 330. The outer end of each supporting strap 322 is formed in a loop 332 by a clincher 334. Thus the three supporting straps 322 form a part of the polishing pad 310 although they are not directly secured to the pad by means of adhesive cement, as is the case where canvas or other cloth straps 52 or 152 are employed as shown and described in connection with the. other embodiments.

Each loop 332 at the outer end of each supporting strap 322 is connected to the outer end 336 of a lever arm designated generally by reference numeral 338 by means of a bolt 340 passing through the loop 332. The bolt 340 is received in openings 342 in the lever arm 338.

The construction of the adjusting means, including the lever arm 338, is shown in detail in FIGURE 12. The lever arm 338 comprises two vertically extending plates 344 spaced apart and connected by transverse plates 346.

tween the plates 344 in the lever arm. 'The nut 348 has a threaded bore 352 which receives an adjusting screw 354. The inner end of the lever arm 338 is pivotally mounted by a pin 356 and washers 358 to a vertically extending stud 360 which is carried by the pan 394 and rotates with the pan and the drive shaft 302. The lower end 362 of adjusting screw 354 presses against a plate 364 secured to the stud 360 by washers 366. The plate 364 is provided with a dimple 368 for receiving the lower end of the adjusting screw. The adjusting means for placing each of the supporting straps 322 under tension, or releasing the tension thereon, which adjusting means includes stud 360, lever arm 338 and adjusting screw 354, is received in a recess 372 formed in the weights 308 as shown in FIGURE 11.

, FIGURE shows the polishing pad 310 inoperative position with its canvas backing 314 pressed tightly against the lower surface of the pan 394, the steel supporting straps 322 being under tension due to the fact that the outer end 336 of the lever arm 33% has been from the pan 3%4. I v I In replacing a worn polishing pad with a new pad, the

new pad and the parts of the apparatus are placed in the position illustrated in FIGURE 16, and the adjusting screws 354 are turned to raise the outer ends 336 of the lever arms 338, thereby drawing the canvas backing 314 of the pad into contact with the pan 304, and placing the straps 322 under tension to secure the new pad to the polishing head.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, we have explained the principle, preferred construction, and mode of operation of our invention and have illustrated and described what we now consider to represent its best embodiments. However, we desire to have it understood that, Within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

We claim:

1. A polishing head and polishing pad assembly, which comprises a drive shaft, a pan secured to and rotatable with said drive shaft, a plurality of supports carried by said'pan in non-rotatable relation therewith, said supports being spaced from and located above said pan, a polishing pad having a central opening extending through it, a plurality 'of supporting straps for said pad, said straps passing through said pad and being anchored at their inner ends to an anchor located in said central opening, means connecting the outer ends of said straps and said supports, and adjusting means for raising the outer ends of said straps relative to said pan to secure said pad to said pan.

2. A polishing head and polishing pad assembly, which comprises a drive shaft, a'pan secured to and rotatable with said drive shaft, a plurality of supports carried by said pan in non-rotatable relation therewith, said supports being spaced from and located above said pan, each of said supports including a lever arm pivoted at its inner end to its support and means for raising and lowering the outer end of said lever arm, a polishing pad, a. plurality of supporting straps for said pad, and means connecting the outer ends of said straps and the outer ends of said lever arms.

3. A polishing head and polishing pad assembly, which comprises a drive shaft, a pan secured to and rotatable with said drive shaft, a plurality of supports carried by said pan in non-rotatable relation therewith, said supports being spaced from and located above said pan, each of said supports including a lever arm pivoted at its inner end to its support, a nut pivotally mounted on said lever arm intermediate its ends, an adjusting screw received in a threaded bore of said nut and a stop for the lower end of said screw, whereby upon adjustment of said screw, the outer end of said lever arm is raised and lowered, a polishing pad, a plurality of supporting straps for said pad, and means connecting the outer ends of said straps and the outer ends or" said lever arms 4. A polishing head and polishing pad assembly, which comprises a drive shaft, a pan secured to and rotatable with said drive shaft, a plurality of supports carried by said pan in non-rotatable relation therewith, said supports being spaced from and located above said pan, each of said supports including a lever arm-pivoted at its inner end to its support, a nut pivotally mounted on said lever arm intermediate its ends, an adjusting screw received in a threaded bore ofsaid nut and a stop for the lower end of said screw, whereby upon adjustment of said screw, the outer end of said lever arm is raised and lowered, a polishing pad having a central opening extending through it, a plurality of metal supporting straps for said pad, said straps passing through said pad and being anchoredvat their inner ends to an anchor located in said central opening, and means conmeeting the outer ends of said straps and the outer ends of said lever arms.

5. A polishing pad for use with a rotatable polishing head, said polishing pad having a central opening extending through it, said polishing pad comprising a cloth backing, a pad of felted material adhesively secured to the underside of said backing, a plurality of metal supporting straps for said pad, said straps passing through said pad between the underside of said cloth backing and said pad of felted material and being anchored at their inner ends to an anchor located in said central opening.

6. A polishing pad for use with a rotatable polishing head, comprising a cloth backing, a pad of felted materialadhesively secured to the underside of said backing, a plurality of supporting straps carried by said pad and having a part located between the underside of said backing and said pad of felted material, said straps having outer end portions adapted to be secured to the polishing head, wherein said supporting straps are made of metal and lie in grooves'extending through said polishing pad.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

2. A POLISHING HEAD AND POLISHING PAD ASSEMBLY, WHICH COMPRISES A DRIVE SHAFT, A PAN SECURED TO AND ROTATABLE WITH SAID DRIVE SHAFT, A PLURALITY OF SUPPORTS CARRIED BY SAID PAN IN NON-ROTATABLE RELATION THEREWITH, SAID SUPPORTS BEING SPACED FROM AND LOCATED ABOVE SAID PAN, EACH OF SAID SUPPORTS INCLUDING A LEVER ARM PIVOTED AT ITS INNER END TO ITS SUPPORT AND MEANS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING THE OUTER END OF SAID LEVER ARM, A POLISHING PAD, A PLURALITY OF SUPPORTING STRAPS FOR SAID PAD, AND MEANS CONNECTING THE OUTER ENDS OF SAID STRAPS AND THE OUTER ENDS OF SAID LEVER ARMS. 